Integrating Crafting and Gathering. Ideas?

[Solarra]

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Thank you for taking the time to explain, I understand what you mean now and I completely agree with you, but in the case of integrating say, gathering and battle I'm not sure what can be done.
It would be broken to let us switch from gather to battle class with all cooldowns reset, or from battle to a gathering class with full GP. So, if they put gathering nodes in dungeons for example, we'd have to go back once it was cleared because nobody is going to want to wait around for that. If they designed a dungeon so a gatherer or crafter was necessary to progress, it would mean longer queues and a lot of work on the present system, so I can't see that happening.

If a gatherer or crafter gave a bonus, like unlocking an extra area, it might work. Eg. a miner could chip through a wall in a dungeon to open a new area or an alchemist could make a potion that lets you sneak past an invulnerable mob, but the rewards have to be worth the effort and I think DF groups who find themselves without the necessary gatherers/crafters would probably complain.
Because of the class system and the need to switch gear, integrating gather and crafting objectives alongside battle would require communication and cooperation, two things FFXIV players aren't used to or good at (remember Diadem?).

Making crafting guilds matter...

I like these ideas. The one thing every new player in my FC comments on if they get into crafting, is the crafting questlines and the guild masters, and so far everyone has loved them.
I was so disappointed Ishgard didn't have a Guild Hall or it's own master crafters, despite people wearing clothes/gear that was markedly different from most of the gear in ARR.
Expanding on the guilds and making them more relevant would be something I'd like to see.